This year there were eight of us: Bruce & Laura Hampton,
Eric Gunter, Tim Kirby, Phil Simmons, Chris Barco and Patty & I. Each of
us had fished the Sea of Cortez before. We proved to be a totally
compatible group. It occurred to me the first morning as Patty,
Eulogio and I were motoring
south on the calm Sea of Cortez, between Isla Del Carmen and
the stark Baja Peninsula, "that this is what our moon might look like, if it
had water standing on it". The barren shoreline, devoid of vegetation and
made up of the ejecta of past

volcanoes, twisted and rearranged by tectonic stress, looked
other-worldly, especially in the very first light from the rising sun. It
was the perfect setting for an adventure. The weather was hot with very
little wind. But, our first couple of days the fishing were. Patty
and I caught only a

couple of Dorado apiece each day, and very little else. We had some near misses with
billfish. The rest of the crew had done much better. Some had
landed double digit numbers of Dorado. Then, on the third day I landed six
Dorado and Patty
landed ten. That was more like it. The best part was, when we got back to camp, we found
that each of the other three boats had done that well or better. On day
four Patty and I really connected. I landed 18 Dorado by 9:18 in the
morning. These fish were between ten and thirty pounds with most
around 15-pounds. Patty landed nearly as

many. On the way back to camp we ran into even larger school
of Dorado, with
hundreds of fish, and caught a few, but were too tired to really
capitalize on the situation. The next day was even better. We
caught so many Dorado that we lost count and came back to camp early,
being completely wore out. The one and two year old Dorado that have
been missing from the Loreto area for the last three years were back in
huge numbers. When you have that many fish, the right captain, the
right flies and the right techniques, it can be a lot of fun.

Also when the fish are available in that kind of numbers, it allows
you to experiment and learn new tricks. Having live-bait for chum is important
when fly fishing for Dorado. Throw out a few Sardinas and get their
killer instinct going and they become much easier to catch. I found
that slapping the water with the fly a couple of dozen times worked nearly
as well. "Pounding them up" became a way of conserving chum. In the
Sea of Cortez if you find a school of Dorado and start catching them, it
won't be very long until other boats will

find you. Sometimes there might be a couple of dozen boats on a big
school of Dorado. At first this will seem like encroachment if you are
territorial. The Mexican scene can take some getting used too.
They are far more gregarious than Americans. It didn't matter.
Everyone caught a lot of fish. Fly anglers caught the most by far.
After you have caught a lot of fish, you can take time to look around and see how other
anglers are catching their fish. During one of our big days, we shared a
school with a couple of other American fly fishers and noted that they
were catching as many Dorado as we were, but they were fishing exclusively
with bright orange poppers. I changed over just to see what would
happen. Sure enough, I caught as many fish. Then Patty switched to a
popper and it worked for her too. Then we started using different colors
of poppers. They all caught fish, but blood-shot colors did the best.
When you first encounter a new school, the fish will be fairly naive and
will bite about anything that looks like a Sardina. As more and more of
them get hooked and released, they get smarter and smarter. Your fly and
presentation has to become better and better. It was the perfect proving
ground for my Sardina pattern listed below,
not only for function, but for durability as well. The fly is tough
enough to catch multiple large fish. It catches the most fish when it is
new and compact. We didn't encounter as many
billfish as we had in previous years. Tim Kirby was the best billfisherman in our group, landing a Striped Marlin and a Sailfish on the
same day. He landed a Marlin, Sailfish and Dorado on the same day
for a Baja "Grand Slam." He also got the biggest Roosterfish.
His buddy Eric Gunter caught lots of Dorado and Rooster Fish too.
Bruce & Laura Hampton caught their share of fish and orchestrated a couple
of sea food feeds that were to die for. Phil Simmons & Chris Barco had a
couple of bragging type days with both billfish & dorado. Everyone had
some peak days. The shoreline fishing proved to be a
pretty flat with Cabrilla, Pargo and Rooster Fish in sparse numbers. There
were huge schools of bait, probably to the point that a nearby predator
fish were so well-fed, it was hard to get them moving. Dorado
fishing more than made up for the lack of other species. By all
accounts all members of the party had a very good time. Some are
already talking about coming back next year.

Patty and I stayed four more days after our group had left
for home. The first day was a bust. A storm passed though and left the
ocean too rough to fish for Dorado. We fished some of the protected
shoreline areas and caught a few small Cabrillas. The second day, we went
south to look for billfish. They too, proved to be elusive with only one
small marlin showing behind the teasers. In the afternoon we found a
large sandy-bottom cove and in it were several dozen Rooster Fish. We
caught eight fish apiece before they became too wise. Day three
proved to be our biggest day for Dorado of our whole

ten-day trip. We found a big school of totally
stupid Dorado, first thing in
the morning. They were hot to go. The first cast a twenty-pounder
ripped the fly, jumped six feet in the air with the hook coming out as the
fish was coming down. A fifteen pound fish took the fly before it
hit the water. I hold my guide that I had died and gone to heaven. Average
fish was fifteen pounds, with some of the larger fish in the twenty five pound
range. We finally tied on straight forty-pound test leader just to see how
fast we could land them. After about 25 fish apiece we were exhausted. Deciding
to take a break, we put the top up on the boat and settled down with a
couple of cold drinks. Eulogio kept flipping out single sardines,
just to keep a few Dorado around the boat. Pretty soon he had so
many fish around the boat Patty and I couldn't stand it. We got back
up and resumed fishing. The next time we quit, our half full drinks
were very warm.
We were back in camp around noon. Day four, I woke up with some kind of
stomach disorder, but decided to go out fishing anyway. My first cast
resulted in an incredibly strong, high flying bull Dorado of a little
better than 35-pounds. I finally landed him 40-minutes later, but he took all the starch out of me. After landing a
couple more smaller fish, I spread some cushions out on the front casting
platform and took a snooze will Patty wrecked havoc on the Dorado from the
rear of the boat. All in all, these fish were more timid than the day
before and she had to work harder for them. It may have been the same
school we had worked over the previous day. We are planning on doing the
same approximate time period next season. If you want to join us, please
let us know.

The
Evolution Of A Fly
Some guys just buy flies and tie them on when a guide
tells them to. Others like myself tie many of their own flies and are
always looking for something that will do a better job. Some fish are
very selective in what they eat. They have discerning eyes and can detect
the difference between the fake and the real thing. Particular
populations of spring creek trout are legendary for their selectivity on
certain hatches. Many species of saltwater fish are at least as capable
at detecting phony prey. In the Sea of Cortez and along the Mexican
Pacific Coast there are a host of hard pulling fish that eat Sardinas.
Many of these fish are extremely selective as to the size, color and
movements of Sardinas. These fish will often charge your fly from many
feet away only to reject and turn away from your fly within inches. It
became apparent that a better Sardina fly was needed. The process listed
here is an abbreviated version of a three-season experiment to evolve the
perfect Sardina fly.

Sardina or Flatiron Herring,
Harengula thrissina: The Sardina, or Flatiron Herring, has a
moderately deep body, iridescent olive/brown back, golden yellow lateral
stripe, silver sides, and a black spot just behind the top of the gill
cover. The Sardina, cannot be easily confused with any other sardine or
herring due to its wide body and lack of elongated dorsal fin rays.
Average size is 5-inches. It reaches a length of 7-inches and is
virtually weightless. It is normally found in the first 30 feet of the
water column in massive schools over sandy bottoms. In Mexican waters, it
is found along the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula south of
Guerrero Negro, throughout the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the
mainland south to Guatemala; it does not appear to be present around the
oceanic islands, however. Although it is a herring, in Mexico, this
species is almost universally called a “Sardina,” or “sardine,” by natives
and tourists alike. The reason that Sardina are so popular for chum, is
that they are easy to obtain and survive for long periods in a live-well.

My first close encounter with sardinas was in a bait tank
in a panga at East Cape in the Sea of Cortez.. Mexican guides harvest
them for live bait and chum. Sardinas are weak swimmers and are easily
caught by hand in the tank. Thus they are easily examined, both in and
out of the water. You would think that this is the perfect opportunity
for a fly tier to copy the exact size and color of the organism. In fact
it proved to be the perfect deception. Sardinas that are in the wild look
quite different from the same fish

that have been netted and especially different from one
who have spent several hours in a bait tank. At left is a sardina that
has spent most of the day in a bait tank. Many of the scales are loosend
from the body and many are missing all together.

At left is a Photo Shop rendering where I am attempting to
turn the fish into a fly on paper. In the beginning many of my flies
contained a lot of silver flash in the sides. This mimicked the loosened
scales of the bait tank fish. I tied many variations along the same
theme. the more silver

that was tied into the fly, the less strikes I got. This
is because the sides of fresh fish reflect as white instead of silver.
Sardinas have have a prominent false eye spot on the each side that is
nearly identical in size as their pupils. What the exact purpose for this
is not known, but tests using

flies with or without the spot weight heavily in favor of
the spot. This kind of research in fly tying ultimately gives the angler
a few insights as to how well predator fish see their prey. Indications
are that they see what they eat in great detail. In Mexico sardinas are
used extensively as chum to bring sport fish close to the boat where they
can be fished with fly gear. It appears that bait that is fresh with
attract more fish than bait that has been getting beat up in the live well
for several hours. Indications are that Dorado, Rooster Fish and Jack
Crevelle like there meat fresh and healthy.

Mark's Sardina Fly
These flies are the ones currently at the top of the Sardina Fly
evolution. They are tied on extra strong, razor sharp Gamakatsu hooks.
The flies are ties exclusively from synthetic materials for extreme
durability.

In this world of rush-to-market products, supported by
Madison Avenue flim-flam, it's nice to find a product that really does
work as well, or better than advertised. The Simms 3XDRY shirt is one of
those products that actually was tested in the field and worn by someone
who was very critical of its performance. Several features make the 3XDRY
shirts stand out above the competition. A couple of loops to attach
accessories are handy. The one next to the top of the left hand pocket
proved to be perfect for attaching a pair of clippers on a lanyard, that could be then
dropped into the pocket out of the way. This feature doesn't sound like
much until you are out in the middle of a tropical ocean (a place you
wouldn't wear a fishing vest) and you need to change flies quickly. Also
the flaps on the pockets are tapered so that the edges don't flip up to
look funny or catch your fly line. The ventilation in this shirt works as
well as any other. What really impressed me most about this shirt was
when I got thoroughly slimed by a big Dorado, and Patty washed the shirt
out in the shower and hung it over a chair and let it dry in the sun. It
was dry in less than an hour and looked like it had been ironed. Hey, it
doesn't hurt to look good after you been slimed!